Flashes don't make good Bats
by Quinis
Summary: Bullying and lack of friends made Wally a serious child. Kid Flash needs to lighten up so Robin decides to become his friend and cox him out of his shell. Written as a fill on the The Young Justice: Animated Anonymous Fic Meme.


** Flashes don't make good Bats**

* * *

**The Prompt (from **The Young Justice: Animated Anonymous Fic Meme**)****:**

* * *

_ For some reason I cannot get the idea of an adorable!genius!Wally being cute and adorable and smart, and getting bullied for it. After the bullying, he goes inside himself, still being uber smart and so on, but acting more like Artemis Fowl *coughbasedonlyonthefirstbookcough*/Damien Wayne/smart-but-apart/Teen Titans Go! Robin/BBC!Sherlock whatever._

_ Now, in Denial, Wally talks about recreating his uncle's experiment, which he did because he was an uber-genius and figured out "the truth". His uncle reluctantly took Wally on as KF, but Wally still acted closed off._

_ Then he meets 9-year-old Robin. Robin has determined that, based off of the history of Batman and The Flash, one will have to be stoic and silent, and one will have to be a goofball nine-year old logic FTW Y/Y?. KF apparently didn't get the memo, though, because KF is acting like Batman. This means that Robin needs to act like the Flash to keep the balance. He then teaches KF to lighten up until KF's the goofball we see in the series. (And please, no romance, Robin would be nine at the start, making KF 11 when they meet IIRC). ^_^_

_ Bonus points for some variation on this dialogue (but it's not necessary)_

_ Artemis: Kid Flash is such a pain! _  
_ Robin: Eh, could be worse. _  
_ Artemis: He used to be more [hyperactive/annoying/talkative/whatever]_  
_ Robin: No. He used to act like Batman, though._  
_ Artemis: Kid Mouth used to act like Batman? _  
_ Robin: Yeah. I got him to snap out of it pretty quickly, though. I mean, I already was working withone Batman, I didn't need a second one... _

* * *

** The Story:**

* * *

Wally was smart. By age eight, he had memorised all the elements on the periodic table. By eight and a half, he could tell you their applications.

And that was only the elements. He knew that the Earth went around the Sun and the Moon went around the Earth, because of gravitational pull (which he could also explain), and it created things like eclipses and the phenomena known as 'day and night'.

He could explain how a magnet worked and the best conditions in which to grow mould.

For some reason, his classmates would get it wrong. He corrected them (and once his teacher) and explained it to them but all that did was make it so that no one wanted to hang out with him.

By nine and a half, Wally knew he had no friends. He never got invited to parties, even when everyone else did. People went out of their way not to sit near him. Snorts and snarks of 'nerd', 'geek' and a number of other phrases and names which Wally didn't like to think about.

Wally didn't do anything about the bullying. He was a fan of the Flash. The Flash didn't endorse violence, instead he protected people. Wally wouldn't get into a fight because that was violence. Revenge was wrong, every hero fan knew that.

He figured he was better off without people like the bullies (and by this time, it felt like everyone acted like a bully towards him). He didn't talk to people unless they spoke to him or they said something really wrong which Wally couldn't help but correct.

* * *

Barry didn't know what to make of his wife's nephew. The kid was… quiet, unless you got him talking about science or the Flash. The first time they met, the kid was like a shadow. He stood where he wouldn't be noticed and Barry didn't even realise he was there until he seemly appeared behind him, asking his mother when they were leaving.

The second time they met, Barry found out that he was called Wally. Wally glared at him and then proceeded to correct him when he made the mistake of dumbing down what he did. The third time they met, he found out that the kid was a Flash fan. He and Wally spent hours talking about the science behind why the Flash could run so fast.

Barry made the mistake of underestimating Wally. By age eleven, the kid managed to replicate the Flash's experiment and give himself superspeed.

"I need someone to train me and you will surely benefit from having someone watch your back," Wally explained with a flat expression. Barry thought it was a little odd but he could tell Wally was excited from the glint in his eyes, even if his expression was flat. "Let me be your partner."

"My what?" he questioned, because he surely heard wrong.

"If not your partner, then could I at least have permission to operate in your city?" Wally asked with a tilt of his head. Barry could see the way the light died in his nephew's eyes, the way he seemed to focus on the distance instead of Barry's face.

It tugged at his heartstrings. Besides, eccentricities aside, Wally was right. And he could see that if he didn't agree, he would be dealing with a lone teenage hero anyway.

"How does the name 'Kid Flash' sound?" Barry smiled and tried to feel reassuring.

"It's acceptable. Does this mean I'm your partner?"

* * *

Batman watched the clip of Kid Flash in action. He sped in and then quickly and effectively took down the criminals. The police report stated that he gave two of the criminals broken bones.

Batman turned to Flash and raised an eyebrow in question. Even though Flash couldn't see the motion, he knew what he was asking anyway.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted. "Kid Flash is too brutal at times." He caught the twitch from Batman and added, "it's Central, not Gotham. We don't need to put our criminals in body casts to get them to the police." He saw the blank expression on his nephew's face as a reporter tried to get an interview. It was just so… Wally, one of the things Barry had come to accept about his strange nephew.

Batman examined the video again.

"What do you think?" he asked and, somehow, Barry realised that he wasn't talking to him.

There was a giggle from above him and Robin dropped down from the rafters. The Flash glared at Batman; he hadn't realised that the kid had been listening.

Robin glanced between Batman and the Flash. His mask covered what was probably an excited expression in his eyes but his body didn't. He was jittery. And smiling.

"Can I meet him?" he asked both heroes.

Even if Barry hadn't thought Kid would benefit from having a friend around his age, the glare Batman sent him would have been enough to make him agree. He nodded.

Batman looked from the Flash to his brightly-coloured partner.

"I intercepted a gun shipment a few days ago," he said, "the guns came from Central. We'll be there over the weekend to see if we can find the source." He then proceeded to print out his information to hand to Barry.

* * *

Robin bounced across the gap between the building they were standing on and the building next to it. First he did a cartwheel, then a flip and then a tumble as he landed. On the way back, be dropped down and grabbed the bars of the fire escape to twist himself back up to the roof.

"Robin," Batman said as a warning. With a joyous laugh, Robin flipped up beside him and a moment later they were facing two speeders. The Flash in his red full-body getup with lightning bolts decorating his chest and sides of his head and Kid Flash, in a yellow version with red hair hanging loose above his head and goggles he moved off his eyes to rest on his forehead.

Kid Flash looked him and Batman up and down with an assessing gaze, his expression not shifting.

"Robin's young," he commented to the Flash. Robin frowned but he noticed the way the fabric of the Batman's cowl twitched in amusement.

"I've been doing this longer than you," Robin pointed out, "KF."

"'KF'?" Robin smiled as Kid Flash's expression changed to a confused frown.

"Kid Flash, KF," Robin explained, realising he had his work cut out for him. "It's a nickname."

"I already have a hero name," Kid Flash responded, "doesn't that count as a nickname? After all, it's not my real name."

This kid was way too serious for a young crime-fighter. The adults were supposed to be serious and the young partners were supposed to be light-hearted. They were supposed to lighten the atmosphere so the adults could focus and not lose sight of the overall mission; seeking justice. Oh, and bug criminals with puns and comments, meaning they weren't supposed to stop talking.

"My name's Robin," Robin said, holding out a hand for KF to shake. "Nice to meet you, KF."

"It's Kid Flash," KF muttered under his breath. At least he shook Robin's hand and Robin ignored the 'do I have to work with him?' expression he shot the Flash.

* * *

Robin was irritating. Kid Flash couldn't believe he had to work with this guy. Sure, Robin was a legend, the first and youngest sidekick, but the real thing never stopped talking.

"Ooh, look! A jewellery store robbery!" Robin announced, cutting off his talk about his English teacher who refused to accept his argument that 'whelmed' was a word that came between overwhelmed and underwhelmed.

Kid Flash was glad that Robin seemed to pause in his talking as they took in the scene across the street. He reached for his communicator to call the Flash when Robin's gloved hand covered his.

"We can handle this ourselves," he said with a confident smirk. Before Kid Flash could argue, Robin had his grabble gun out and was swinging down past the lamppost and down to the other side of the street with a childish giggle.

Kid Flash sped after him. He watched in amazement as Robin retracted his grabble and flipped, landing between two of the three robbers.

"Boy, did you guys pick the wrong day to pull of this heist," he laughed and Kid Flash wondered if he was crazy. Antagonising the criminals didn't help, it only mad them angry and gave them a chance to hit you.

Kid Flash didn't waste his chance the way Robin had, he snuck up behind the third criminal and tied him up before he realised what was going on. Then he turned to help Robin out of the situation he created for himself only to see the brightly-coloured sidekick jump into the air and flip over one of the criminals as they tried to grab him. They ran into each other and Robin laughed.

While they were stunned, Robin knocked them out with a punch and kick to their chins and then tied them up.

He then placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the three tied up criminals and the bag of expensive jewellery.

"I'd say that's a job well done, wouldn't you?"

Kid Flash had no idea how to respond. Thankfully, it seemed he didn't need to, Robin went on as if he did;

"That's right, we're supposed to be looking for the source of the guns!"

* * *

That is how their patrol seemed to go. Robin would chat non-stop, sometimes acting out what Kid Flash was supposed to say and sometimes going on as if Kid Flash had spoken. It was all light-hearted upbeat conversation.

KF had no idea what to think by the end of the night. His uncle turned to him and asked him how it went.

"It was... interesting," was all he could think of to say. They hadn't managed to track down the source of the guns but Batman had a few ideas. They would be trying again the next night.

* * *

The next morning, Wally had a visitor. He had been watching the TV over his mother's shoulder (really, who cared that Bruce Wayne was visiting Central with his ward? They were big-shots in Gotham but had nothing to do with Central) when the knock came from the door.

Wally opened it to a short, dark haired kid with bright blue eyes. He blinked and rubbed his eyes in case he was experiencing some kind of visual hallucination.

The hallucination giggled. A familiar giggle actually.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" Dick Grayson (hadn't he just been on TV?) asked with a smirk. Wally wordlessly moved out of the way.

"My room's up the stairs, first door on the right," Wally said, because he didn't want his mother to see this. Not until he figured out why a rich kid was standing in his house.

Dick nodded, as if this was normal, and bounced up the stairs.

Wally followed at a much more reasonable pace and found Dick sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"So, KF, when did you realise it was me?" Dick asked.

"Just now," Wally responded flatly, "only one person has even called me KF, Robin."

"And if this had been a trick?" Dick questioned with a tilt of his head.

Wally didn't know how to respond to that. He just stared, waiting for Dick to speak. Because, it obviously wasn't a trick and he was annoyed Dick would even suggest that.

"Okay, okay. You're smart," Dick said, raising his hands in a 'no weapons' position. "Congratulations on figuring it out." There was something unidentifiable in his tone and Wally couldn't figure it out. "Now, care to show me around Central?"

Wally raised a sceptical eyebrow while wondering what was wrong with this kid.

"And get swamped by people when they realise you're Dick Grayson?"

"They won't." Dick smirked.

"They will. Even I saw the broadcast and you're not exactly hiding."

"Not yet!" Dick announced, whipping out a pair of sunglasses and placing them on his face.

"There's no way that'll work," Wally scoffed.

"Just call me 'Robin'."

Wally's mouth twisted into a smile. There was no way this guy was serious.

* * *

Dick was serious. His mission was to lighten up KF and so far, it seemed to be working. Good. KF was far too serious.

He had seen Wally smile but, it had faded quickly when he realised that Dick's intent was to be pulled around Central like some kind of tourist.

"But I am 'some kind of tourist'," he responded, tugging Wally into an ice-cream parlour. "What do you suggest?"

"I have an increased metabolism," Wally explained as if he was a child, "that means that my body turns food into energy faster than average and means that I need to ingest more food than you."

"And so, you must have tried at least every flavour here once," Dick responded, logically. "What do you suggest?"

Wally blinked. Usually when he explained something like that, people backed off. And here was Dick, looking at him and waiting for him to answer his question.

"Uh, what do you like?" he asked. Dick responded with a list of items he liked to eat. "Chocolate!" Wally burst in, cutting off Dick's explanation. Dick smiled but he wasn't done yet. "Get chocolate!"

"Classic. Nice. And what would you like?"

"Increased. Metabolism."

"Ward of bazillionare," Dick responded, waving his wallet in Wally's face. "And Bruce totally knows what feeding a speedster is like."

"Right," Wally chuckled, flushing a little in embarrassment. Bruce was Batman which meant he knew the Flash, Wally's Uncle Barry. Of course he would know what Wally was like when it came to food. "Get me the biggest thing you can."

"Icecream headaches, here we come!" Dick cheered.

* * *

Barry blinked at the slightly dazed look on Wally's face as he entered the house that evening.

"Just in time," he said, "we need to meet Batman and Robin."

"Okay," Wally responded flatly before whizzing off to drop his stuff in his room and change. Barry raised an eyebrow at the empty air where Kid had been standing. Bruce had told him that Dick planned to drag Wally around Central, which he had, according to the trackers (and Barry tried to talk Bruce out of that one but somehow walked away wondering if having a tracker on Wally was a good idea - stupid bat mind tricks).

"So, how was it?" he asked Wally. The boy gave him a slight frown in response.

"You already knew Batman's and Robin's identities," he droned.

"I did," Barry responded. He kind of disliked the formal way of speaking he slipped into while around his nephew. Something about the kid made it difficult to talk him like a kid after a while of knowing him.

"Hm," Wally said musingly. And it was quiet until they reached the rooftop where Batman and Robin were already waiting.

"Hey, KF!" Robin waved and greeted them.

"Hi, Robin," Kid Flash responded. Barry did a double take. The monotone had faded a little with some excitement appearing in Kid's voice.

"The Robin effect," Batman commented and the Flash swore the man was hiding a smile.

* * *

Wally coughed as the gas filled the room. A hand pressed to his face (Robin) and a mask clicked over his nose and mouth. It filtered the air for him but he still couldn't see the Flash. He swung around, trying to spot his Uncle.

"Batman!" Robin cried out and Wally wondered if he was crazy for giving away their position. But, he heard a few grunts and when the gas began to clear, noticed that Robin had been able to defend himself from all the henchmen who had taken advantage of his exposed position to attack him.

He wondered if being strong meant you could do things like that which others would find crazy or stupid. He didn't realise it at that moment but, he had begun to aspire to be like Robin.

"Batman!" Robin cried out, seeing his mentor on the ground with the Flash lying next to him. Wally's heart stopped for a millisecond and he was by their sides in a moment. They were breathing, their pulses were fine but they were unconscious.

"What was that gas?" Robin questioned aloud. Wally looked up, irritated that he would ask because obviously they didn't know but, Robin continued, "we need to find out. We'll drag them outside and take the Batmobile to the bunker and get them checked out. If this was anything ordinary, it would have worn off the Flash by now."

Wally nodded and soundlessly followed Robin outside, dragging his uncle with him. He felt slightly bad about it but neither of them were strong enough to carry their mentors.

Robin drove the Batmobile like a maniac and Wally threw up afterwards while Robin called him a 'baby'.

"Learn to drive," he grumbled back.

"I did," Robin responded and Wally snorted.

"I'm a speedster and even I think you have a lead foot." The quip had slipped out before he could stop it. But, Robin had being going fast for a non-speedster. Plus, Wally had an idea what would have happened to them if Robin had lost concentration for even a second.

Now that he thought about it, hadn't his Uncle told him a story about how Robin once crashed the Batmobile?

Robin just laughed at his quip and the dirty look he sent his way before showing him the entrance to the Central City Bat-Bunker. There, Kid Flash got the surprise of his life.

No, it wasn't that there was a Bat-Bunker in Central. He kind of expected that.

It was that Robin knew science. Not as much as him, which was why he took the lead with analysing the compounds in their mentors' bodies, but enough to impress him.

They managed to generate an antidote, which impressed Flash and earned a nod from the Batman.

* * *

Wally ignored his uncle when he suggested that he missed Dick and tried not to show excitement when he suggested other team-ups.

* * *

After the third team-up and five unannounced visited from a sunglasses wearing Dick who insisted on being called 'Robin', Wally decided that it was his turn to visit.

Dick had a butler. As far as Wally was concerned, the man was a God.

* * *

Robin jumped into battle with a laugh, signalling to the criminals that they better watch out.

* * *

Kid Flash dodged the blast from the ray gun and laughed at the criminal. As Robin said, enraged or dispirited criminals made mistakes and there was nothing more annoying or dispiriting than a kid laughing at them.

The Flash stood in shock as Kid Flash knocked the man out.

* * *

"You have an increased metabolism," Robin said, matter-of-factly as he passed money to the shocked worker behind the counter.

Kid Flash figured anyone would be shocked by Robin and Kid Flash turning up in their ice cream parlour and ordering food.

"I... guess," he responded. Robin smiled and pushed a bowl of ice cream into his hands.

* * *

"I have an increased metabolism," he said to The Flash. The Flash stood there for a few moments and Wally's mouth twitched downwards. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Sure," The Flash said with a smile, ruffling his hair. Wally frowned and moved away from the contact, embarrassed but also warmed. "Let's get some ice cream."

* * *

Kid Flash laughed as he dodged bullets and then knocked the gunman out.

"That was too easy," he boasted, looking over at his uncle who had just finished up with his gunman. The five members of the gang were unconscious but otherwise uninjured. The visitors in the bank cheered and Kid Flash smiled at them.

The Flash watched his nephew with a glowing smile of his own. A reporter tried to get an interview, but Kid Flash just smiled at them and then said something about needing to patrol for trouble with a knowing glance at The Flash.

They went for pizza this time. In Italy. Kid Flash's phone rang while they were waiting for their order.

"Hey Rob!" he answered.

"Hey KF!" Robin responded. There was a pause and then, "where are you?"

"Italy."

"Cool. Just heard you won the science prize at your school. Congratulations. Batman says I can bring some of A's cookies as a reward."

Kid Flash held back a cry of joy, a smile plastered to his face. Yeah, life was good.

* * *

Robin watched Kid Flash flirt with Megan and smiled. He had come a long way from the withdrawn and serious person he had been when they first met. It had taken a while but Kid Flash had settled into the role of being an older hero's partner with all the fun that came with it.

And now they had more friends and were part of a team.

"Ugh," Artemis groaned. The blond archer crinkled her nose. "Kid Flash is such a pain!"

Robin saw the way Megan relaxed as she spoke with him. Wally really only wanted to make sure she was happy.

He flashed back to the solemn kid who didn't really see the point in happiness.

"Eh, could be worse," he said.

"So, he used to be more of a hyperactive, annoying flirt or something?"

"No. He used to act more like... um, the best comparison would be Batman, I guess."

"Kid Mouth used to act like Batman?"

"Yeah. I got him to snap out of it pretty quickly, though. I mean, I already was working with one Batman, I didn't need a second one..."

Artemis gave him a sceptical glare. Robin didn't tell her that she could probably google some of Kid Flash's first appearances and see what he meant; he didn't think KF would like that.

"What'chu talking about?" Wally asked, seeming to appear right beside them. Of course, Robin realised he was there but Artemis didn't.

She jumped.

"I was just telling Artemis about how you were when you first started out."

"You mean when Flash went to Batman for advice about me because he was concerned about my approach?"

"...You knew about that, huh?"

Artemis glanced between the two in surprise.

"Of course I did. And now I understand why he did," Wally smiled. "And I can't really complain. Got a best friend out of it all so, yeah."

"Hold on, are you being reasonable?" Artemis questioned. Wally even sounded serious.

"Of course, Arty. What else would you expect?" he smirked and ran off with a laugh.

Artemis fumed and turned to Robin, only to see empty air, his laugh mingling with Wally's.


End file.
